memeorandum: Alec Baldwin: If Obama were white ... (Caitlin McDevitt/Associated Press)

4:00 PM ET, September 5, 2012

Top Items:

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

RNC Highlights: Romney Shares Top Billing With Eastwood — Fewer Watch Convention Coverage than in 2008 — OVERVIEW — The public paid far less attention to this year's Republican convention than it did to the GOP convention four years ago. Just 37% say they watched …

Discussion: Ross Douthat, The Fix, Deadline.com, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Political Capital, Politico, GOP 12, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos and FiveThirtyEight

ABCNEWS:

Transcript: Michelle Obama's Democratic Convention Speech — Below is the full transcript, as prepared for delivery, of First Lady Michelle Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night. — Thank you so much, Elaine...we are so grateful for your family's service and sacrifice …

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

FACT CHECK: FIRST LADY'S FALSE FAIRY TALE OF STRUGGLE — First Lady Michelle Obama's pitch to voters last night relied on the premise that she and her husband understand what it is to struggle to make ends meet. She spoke movingly about their early years—about how a young Barack Obama drove a car that was …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, The Right Scoop, Babalú Blog, Wizbang, Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Eric Ostermeier / Smart Politics:

Michelle Obama's DNC Speech Written at 7 Grade Levels Above Ann Romney's — The First Lady's speech Tuesday was written at a 12th grade level - the highest in history among the wives of presidential nominees and far above Ann Romney's lowest mark of a 5th grade level

Discussion: Politico, USA Today, BuzzFeed and Daily Kos

Mike Flynn / BREITBART.COM:

NOT 2008: BIG DROP IN VIEWERS FOR DAY ONE OF DEM CONVENTION — The headline speakers last night in Charlotte were a mayor nobody has heard of and First Lady Michelle Obama. Last night and this morning, the media are tripping over each other to heap praise on Mrs. Obama's speech …

Discussion: Deadline.com, The Lonely Conservative, PoliPundit.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Irin Carmon / Salon:
Michelle Obama: Not just mom-in-chief

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Beast, Feministing, Washington Wire, The New Republic, The Agonist and Wall Street Journal

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Ann Romney: Mitt's ‘a can-do kind of guy’

Discussion: Daily Kos

CNN:

TRENDING: First on CNN: DNC secretly scheduled guests: Actresses Johansson, Portman, Washington — Charlotte (CNN) - Clint Eastwood meet Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Kerry Washington. — The three actresses, firmly anchored in Hollywood's royalty, have been secretly scheduled …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Reuters, Deadline.com, Politico, Riehl World News and Jammie Wearing Fools

Byron Tau / Politico:

Obama speech moved indoors — Democratic officials confirm to POLITICO that President Obama's prime time address will be moved indoors to the Time Warner Center. — The Thursday address was scheduled to be at Bank of America stadium — an outdoor venue with more than 70,000 seats.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Firedoglake and Taylor Marsh

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

‘Best weather of the entire week’: Local meteorologist puzzled by Obama speech move — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The chief meteorologist at a Charlotte television station is questioning the decision by Democrats to move President Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention to a smaller venue because of the weather.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Weekly Standard, Los Angeles Times, iOwnTheWorld.com, Michelle Malkin, Joe. My. God. and Washington Post

Chris Moody / Yahoo! News:
Kal Penn: President Obama ‘consistent’ on marijuana policy

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hit & Run and Election 2012

CNN:
BREAKING: Obama's speech to move indoors

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Grist, Pirate's Cove, The Other McCain, Towleroad News #gay and The Caucus

Kevin Robillard / Politico: DNC 2012: Obama's crowd downsized by 50K

CNN:
For Democrats, 2016 jockeying begins over breakfast

Discussion: Politico

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Rain Will Keep 65,000 Ticketholders From Obama

Discussion: National Review

CNN:

CNN Fact Check: About those 4.5 million jobs ... San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro touted 4.5 million new jobs created during the Obama administration. Was he right? — (CNN) — Anyone watching the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night heard the number 4.5 million several times.

Discussion: Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Politico, Riehl World News and Jammie Wearing Fools

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Democratic Disinformation from Charlotte — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We heard a number of dubious or misleading claims on the first night of the Democratic National Convention: — The keynote speaker and others claimed the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, would raise taxes on the “middle class.”

Discussion: NPR, ThinkProgress, The Maddow Blog, Red Alert Politics, Online NewsHour, The Agonist, Obama Isn't Working, The Daily Dish, USA Today and New Orleans Times-Picayune

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
The Truth Behind The GOP Claim That Obama Hasn't Created A Single Net Job

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Maddow Blog and Newsy

Investor's Business Daily:
Better Off? Let's Count the Ways We're Not

Discussion: Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots and ThinkProgress

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 4: The Simple Case for Why Obama Is the Favorite — I've been tiptoeing around this point, because I don't think that our forecast model ought to represent the totality of our analysis about the election. — But if you look at the right-hand column of this page …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Guardian and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal:
Caddell and Schoen: A Campaign in Need of a Clintonian Pivot

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Monica Lewinsky's Former Rabbi To Deliver Benediction After Bill Clinton Speaks At DNC — ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This could get awkward. — Rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles' Sinai Temple, where Monica Lewinsky and her family were congregation members …

Discussion: Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and Washington Examiner

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Bill Clinton's 8 digs at Obama

Discussion: CNN, The PJ Tatler and Riehl World News

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

DWS attacks Examiner for ‘deliberately’ misquoting her, but here's the audio … CHARLOTTE - Earlier this evening, in an appearance on Fox News, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused the Washington Examiner of “deliberately” misquoting her comments claiming …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, FishbowlDC, The Hill, Mondoweiss, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Betsy's Page, The PJ Tatler, AEIdeas, The Lonely Conservative, Weekly Standard, Election 2012, NewsBusters.org, American Spectator, The Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Will Debbie Be Dumped?

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Nice Deb, GayPatriot and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Lee Fang / thenation.com/blogs/168901:

Exclusive: Paul Ryan Quietly Requested Obamacare Cash — Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Repealing Obamacare would take health care away from people

Discussion: Washington Monthly and msnbc.com

Vanity Fair:

Barack Obama to Michael Lewis on a Presidential Loss of Freedom: “You Don't Get Used to It—At Least, I Don't” … “Don't be looking to the sidelines all sheepish,” Barack Obama yells at Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Lewis in “Obama's Way,” in October's V.F. “You got to get back and play D!”

Discussion: Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Felix Salmon, Weasel Zippers, USA Today and ABCNEWS

Caitlin McDevitt / Associated Press:

Alec Baldwin: If Obama were white ... Actor Alec Baldwin thinks that race is one reason why President Obama isn't crushing Mitt Romney in the polls. — “If Obama was white, he'd be up by 17 points,” the actor tweeted on Tuesday. — “Certainly things could [be] better w this economy,” Baldwin added.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

S.C. Dem. Chair Compares GOP Gov. to Hitler's Mistress — South Carolina Democratic chairman Dick Harpootlian compared his state's Republican female governor, Nikki Haley, to Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun this morning at a breakfast in Charlotte, North Carolina. — South Carolina's the State reports:

Discussion: Politico, The PJ Tatler, Moe Lane, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, The Right Sphere, Sister Toldjah, Election 2012 and Wichita Eagle

Caitlin McDevitt / Reuters:

Exclusive: Gabby Douglas to lead DNC Pledge of Allegiance — CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Two-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas will be back under the bright lights at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. — The 16-year-old gymnast, known as the “flying squirrel,” …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

A media lovefest in Charlotte — The Democratic National Convention is just getting underway, but already I've been given the treatment. Lots of treatments, actually. — I've had my deltoids massaged in candlelight by a licensed therapist; had a foaming pore cleanser and mask applied …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Mediaite and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »